Adam Kalsey is a guy that I know and always sort of liked, even though we don’t know each other very well. There are a lot of people in that category for me – I’ve met them and have generally positive thoughts about them, but never get to know them on any deeper level.
Adam slammed me a while back for what he thought was a reversal of opinion on a company called Zoho. He thought I didn’t like them, and then suddenly reversed my opinion once they became a sponsor. He wrote about it here.
It so happens he was wrong. I’ve always written positively about Zoho and I always admired what the company was doing. Adam didn’t accuse me of changing my writing about Zoho, though. He accused me of slamming them at an event as copycats, then taking a sponsorship, and then saying good things about them (ignoring the fact that my writing was consistent about them all along). He said flat out that my approval can be bought.
What Adam never knew, and didn’t ask me before slamming me, was that when I said the company was accused of copying others I was about to say “but the new products look very original”. I was never able to say those words at the event because the founder cut me off and an argument ensued. The argument was later cleared up, but all Adam heard was me criticizing the company. A quick check of my posts would have shown my real opinion, but Adam either never did that or chose to ignore it.
Anyway, that event was long ago in blog-time, and forgotten.
But Adam released a new product tonight, called Feed Crier, a RSS to IM product that I will almost certainly use for certain key feeds. The question was, do we support a startup from a guy that jumped to an incorrect conclusion, slammed me and then never apologized publicly or privately?
The answer is yes. We do. We also use pheedo’s RSS product at TechCrunch Japan, and Adam founded pheedo.
Do I hope that Adam someday shakes my hand and apologizes for incorrectly saying I did something dishonest? Yes. But that won’t affect how we cover his startups on TechCrunch.
And by the way, Zoho is no longer a sponsor, and I still think their products kick ass.
Good to hear such a level-headed, positive post. Recently there’s been rather too much bickering in “web 2.0″ land…
All of us make mistakes, and we can help the wrong interpertation of our opinions and actions despite our best intentions, this of course may casue misunderstanding and problems for sometime, but when the people involved are conscious and responsible eventually it will be cleared out, and this is what has happened and will continue to happen.
i’m glad you’re talking about these issues in public, and I’m sure when/if Adam finds out, he will know the right thing to do.
Get over yourself
Although I don’t know Adam or his ventures, back in those days I took Adam’s not-so-nice post as an opportunity to elaborate a bit on the value of being first to market – or better.
Geez, when Andreeessen was the target of my snark he at least invited me to Ning’s office for brownies and beer. Okay, so he didn’t invite me, but he embraced us when we showed up.
Obviously the incident isn’t “long forgotten” or this post would have had a different tone.
Mike, I’m flattered to hear that you like me, given that we’ve talked for all of two minutes at one of the early TechCrunch parties (the Riya coming out, if I recall). I’m stating to get the feeling that you think we know each other better than we actually do. Several times you’ve said I should have called you and talked to you about Zoho before pointing out your apparent flip. Next time I’d be happy to — but I’ll need your phone number first. Feel free to email it to me. You want to talk to me about my thoughts on you and Zoho, great. Call me. My number’s at the bottom of all my blog pages.
How about we bury this hatchet (or would that be hatcht…
) before this turns into an ugly feud. I’ll start:
I’m sorry you took offense. I didn’t intend to say you were taking money in return for reviews. I simply intended to point out the apparent flip flop and how one must be careful when saying pleasant things about advertisers.
And next time I’m at one of your parties, I’ll buy you a beer.
Also, for the record, I have no ongoing responsibilities with Pheedo. Although I still own a bit of stock. So if your endorsement of them results in someone paying large sums of money for them, I’ll buy you two beers.
this post is just to close the tag so my HTML typo doesn’t screw up the rest of the page.
Adam,
There never was and never is anything more than what Mike stated here. I reacted a bit too defensively to a legitimate question from Mike, and I later apologized for it. It was a momentary lapse in judgement on my part under the pressure of the demo floor.
The sponsorship had nothing whatsoever to do with that incident. And you can review coverage about us and you will see no pattern at all.
In any event, in the latest Under the Radar event, the audience voted for Zoho – indicating that there is some substance to us, after all.
Sridhar
yeah and Adam, we’re on skype together and my cell phone is right there in my profile. I just sent you an IM…please ping me before any future trashings.
Adam,
Last time I went to an Arrington party (Friday) the drinks were free.
I think if you read what Michael writes both here and on the site along with what he says in person you’ll find that he’s very consistent and open. That’s what makes TechCrunch so appealing.
And this is coming from me, the person who thinks he’s flushing TechCrunch down the tubes with Marshall’s ‘reviews.’
-david
We?
The Royal We?
Who is the we?
I think everyone should make their individual mind up.